


No Place for Heroes

by Miishae



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: AU, Action, Adventure, M/M, Multi, Whump, ego shipping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:48:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23269456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miishae/pseuds/Miishae
Summary: Formerly part of a Dahl splinter group, Jackie stumbles across a long kept secret by even the Eridians. Running away with an important artifact, Jackie enlists the help of anyone and everyone who could potentially help. This discovery starts a galaxy-wide race for a treasure bigger than any vault anyone's ever heard of, and everyone's participating. Will contain ego shipping.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue: Marcus' story.

**Author's Note:**

> This will feature ego shipping, so if this isn't your cup of tea, please do not read.

So you’re here for another story, hmm? I have a story for you, I _always_ have stories to share, you can trust old Marcus on that. I’ve told you stories about the vaults on Pandora and the vault hunters who saved the planet. They’ve dealt with evil corporations hellbent on taking over the planet, and they even took down gods! There was nothing our vault hunters couldn’t do in the face of danger and the promise of treasure.

But their story ended with Pandora saved. They’ve had their adventure, and life as we know it goes on. Pandora returns to normal, our six galaxies return to rebuild what has been lost. It seems there is a happily ever after, for most people.

But what if I were to tell you that the _ultimate_ story doesn’t end here? There are rumors, legends that have been passed down as stories of not a vault, but a _planet_ filled with countless treasures and untold wealth. A mysterious planet, rumored to have been created by the Eridians to hold all their secrets, and _kept_ as a tight secret. Could it be another vault? Several vaults? No one knows, because not everyone knows it exists. Hell, years ago, people thought the vault on Pandora was a myth, and we were all proven wrong with time and stubbornness unmatched by anyone. Without our vault hunters’ determination, we wouldn’t have a story to begin with.

But, unfortunately, this isn’t a story for our beloved vault hunters. New heroes rise up, new friendships and alliances are formed, and new enemies are made. This is a story of greed, secrets, betrayal, trust, and a search for a long-kept secret about to be discovered, a secret that could change everything we know about life itself. Our story begins _not_ on Pandora, for a change, but on Elpis – in a remote camp, far away from civilization. We feature a new cast of characters: a man who dreams of being a hero, a monk running from Athenas, a wanna-be vault hunter, Atlas scientists who wish to be taken seriously, and most importantly, _me._


	2. Chapter 2

The dig site is a miserable location: cold, dark, and if Jackie didn’t know any better, he’d say it was more of an asteroid than some desolate planet. He’d say more it was a moon, even, with how little oxygen is available. The mask he’s forced to wear just to survive tells him this isn’t a habitable planet. 

He knows why they’re there though. ‘They’, being the Dahl splinter group run by Marcel LaMont. If asked by Marcel himself, Jackie would put on a large smile and say there was no one he’d rather work for, but in private, Jackie would bitch about the man. Marcel is a tall, muscular man with a charming smile that shines brightly on the surface, but carries nothing but malice underneath his persona. It’s a face Jackie would very much love to punch one day, not just because the man’s an asshole, but because of his beliefs. 

Come to think of it, Jackie can’t understand why he’s even still working for Dahl. Dahl official went out of business years ago, having disbanded for reasons unknown. Marcel had offered a job, promising to rebuild, and Jackie, like any desperate moron, had taken him up on his offer. 

That’s how they ended up on this stupid pathetic chunk of rock to begin with.

With a shiver, Jackie sits in his tent, using an unopened crate as a chair as he uses a lantern to pour over documents. There are maps and locations Marcel wants Jackie to mark out with his ECHO, but Jackie can’t concentrate. There must be hundreds of pages of scrawled notes to sift through and put on the ECHO, and already Jackie can feel his eyes rolling back into his head. He hadn’t even made it past the first page.

A lot of the notes are how Marcel wants to hire prisoners to do the dirty work for him. That’s something Jackie will forever disagree with the man over; there’s a fully functional crew of at least twenty men here that can mine the planet for whatever ores they’re looking for. Jackie also knows well ahead of time that this planet probably doesn’t have anything valuable to its name, otherwise there would be more than one port city on the entire surface. They’re already a few hours away from port as is, Jackie can’t understand why Marcel got the genius idea to camp so far away from the meager civilization.

“Jackie, are you done yet?” Marcel’s sleepy voice is heard at the entrance of Jackie’s tent, causing the man to jump back, nearly toppling over. He presses his hand to the side of his face, checking to make sure his goggles haven’t fallen off in his surprise. 

“No, sir, you just gave me these notes an hour ago. I’m still trying to make sense of them.”

Marcel steps into the tent, looking far more intimidating when half bathed in shadows. He seems taller, _bigger_. Jackie can feel himself shrinking back in sheer hatred as he stares at Marcel’s neck. “I expect you to do the work I assign you, Jackie. I hired you for a reason, and I’m starting to wonder if you’re pulling your weight.” 

Jackie’s eyes narrow as he chews on his bottom lip. “Marcel, you gave me hundreds of notes _an hour_ ago. I’m not exactly sure what it is you want from me. I’m tired, bro.”

“Then let me speed up the process for you: I want you to get on the ECHO and scan for nearby prison ships in need of labor. Also, do not call me _bro_.”

“I’m not hiring slaves for you, Mark.” Jackie’s tone is cold now. “We can dig ourselves. We have the equipment and the manpower, I don’t know why you want slaves, especially when we’re not guaranteed to find anything worth much here.”

“I smell minerals in the air, Jackie. This place is going to earn me plenty of riches, and twenty men isn’t enough to mine through to the center of the planet. Get on the ECHO and start asking around for prisoners who want to work. I’m going to need a full crew. I’m not taking no for an answer.” 

He leaves before Jackie can disagree again. Jackie slumps back against the crate, crumbling up a few pages of notes and tossing them toward the entrance of the tent, before burying his face in his hands. Normally Jackie would grit his teeth and bear with Marcel’s eccentricities, but he can’t tolerate this. Jackie doesn’t want to work alongside criminals, he wouldn’t trust them, and it’s this bullshit that landed Dahl in hot water before. Hell, it’s how Pandora came to be infected with bandits.

He starts scanning the rest of the notes, trying to find anything he could use against Marcel. He picks up the whole pile, ready to chuck everything to the floor so he can stomp on it in a childish fit, but the second Jackie lifts the pile, a wrinkled, torn map slips free and back to the table.

It’s not often people find a hand drawn map, it’s not often they _exist_ , but this one does. It’s labeled as official documentation; Jackie recognizes the Dahl emblem in the top right corner. This only tells Jackie that Marcel isn’t supposed to have this either, or he didn’t mean to pass it over to Jackie. 

It doesn’t make much sense, but he can guess from the scrawled notes that this is a big discovery. The handwriting isn’t Marcel’s, it’s not anything Jackie recognizes, and it’s almost indecipherable. Still, Jackie holds his wrist over the map, hoping his ECHO picks up more than he can. A hologram of a planet opens up, with that same scrawled handwriting spinning around the center of the planet. Jackie blinks and leans closer, pulling his goggles over his eyes so he can see better.

“What is Kaladia?” Jackie’s keeping his voice low as he starts speaking to himself, shooting glances toward the entrance to make sure Marcel isn’t coming back. He reaches his other hand up to spin the hologram around, zooming in on the planet, then out. He can’t tell where it is, but he looks back down at the map, tilting his head to the side. He moves his echo over more, scanning all the notes and trying to pick up more information.

“A vault?” Jackie frowns when his ECHO beeps. It’s a map that leads to a planet, that’s for certain, but where this planet is, is still a mystery. According to his echo, it’s a planet that’s a giant vault, or so the notes say. There’s more, though, his ECHO is beeping again, more rapidly than before.

Jackie hunches over the map, as well as the hologram as he continues to study. According to the map, the planet is rumored to be a myth. Even his ECHO is saying the planet doesn’t exist. But if it’s a giant vault, that must mean it holds boundless treasure. Jackie’s eyes widen at the implications. If Marcel has this map, and he’s wanting slave labor, that must mean he already has some idea. 

Not if Jackie takes this away from the asshole.

Getting to his feet, Jackie peeks out of his tent, listening for any voices. He can’t hear anything but distant snoring. It sounds like everyone is asleep, and he can only hope Marcel went back to bed after being his typical self righteous self. This gives Jackie the perfect opportunity to grab the map, fold it up, and shove it in his pocket. He shuts the hologram of the planet off as well, so the light emitting from the ECHO doesn’t alert anyone. 

He’s going to have to walk a distance before using a vehicle. Jackie knows there are Catch-A-Rides periodically across the planet, which is fine with him, it’s not like walking well away from camp is going to hurt him. He just needs to get to the port city as soon as possible and catch the next ship leaving.

Quietly, Jackie rummages through his tent, gathering anything he might need on him. Most things can be stored digitally, like money and weapons he might need, but everything else, like food, needs to be carried in his backpack. He stuffs it full of canned goods and leftover pizza before flinging it over his shoulders. Jackie briefly contemplates raiding Marcel’s tent for goods, but decides against it. Marcel is a light sleeper, and Jackie doesn’t want to explain why he’s running away with something of high value.

He glances around his tent one last time before leaving, taking the lantern with him for light. Truthfully, Jackie doesn’t even need the lantern, but it’s his last ‘fuck you’ to Marcel. He checks his ECHO though, looking at the port city’s ship schedules. There’s a ship that’s bound to leave for Promethea in four hours, which is perfect for Jackie. Still, he radios the city. 

“Yeah?” Comes the static-filled voice of the operator, Jackie’s assuming. “How can I help you?”

“What time does your next ship leave?” He’s walking briskly, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds. He’s going to have to ditch this ECHO, or at least hack it so Marcel can’t easily radio in and track Jackie down. “Also, I’d like to buy a spare ECHO. I need a new one.”

“We have one leaving for Athenas in two hours, Promethea in four, and we have ECHOnet devices available, how far away are you and when can I expect you?”

Jackie breathes a sigh of relief. “I’ll be there just in time to board for Promethea. Can I place an ECHO device on hold? I’d like to transfer almost everything over immediately.”

“You’re not a bandit, are you?” The voice on the other end sounds suspicious. Jackie can practically see their brow furrowing with concern. 

“No, I’m on the run from one.” Probably not the smartest way to describe Marcel, but Jackie’s well aware that this move is going to cost him greatly. “I need to be able to not be tracked. Can I transfer my funds and weapons over to a new one? You can take the payment out of my money, I’ll pick it up when I get there.”

“Sure, give me your information too. I’ll make sure you’re all set by the time you get here. Er, what did you say your name was?” 

Jackie looks back one last time. The camp is now in the distance, with him having already put a decent distance between himself and Marcel. His heart is racing though, because there are lights on now, which means Jackie’s window of escaping is starting to close. He needs to leave, _now_. “Jackson Collins. I’ll transfer my information over, I just need to ditch this one. I’ll see you in a few hours.” 

“Roger that, Jackson. We’ll set you up.”

The line goes dead after that. Maybe they hung up on each other at the same time, Jackie doesn’t know. Still, he’s walking forward, pushing as fast as he can without breaking into a run. While he walks, he transfers his ID, his money, weapons, and even the hologram over to the operator. Everything else: his contacts, his business information, is completely discarded. Jackie shuts the ECHO off and drops it to the ground, kicking dirt up around it in an attempt to hide it. Then, he runs. 

The only thoughts on Jackie’s mind now are thoughts of this strange planet, and if it means sticking it to some greedy asshole, then Jackie will be happy to take on this role.

After all, he knows he’s a greedy asshole too.


End file.
